[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: Internal Passports



At 11:02 AM -0800 12/31/96, Timothy C. May wrote:
>There have been several reports cited here recently about changes in the SS
>laws to make the SS number more of an ID number. ...
>
>And concerns about "identity theft" when such a simple thing as an SS
>number is the key to so many records, rights, etc.

I don't see how you can have the SS number be both a public ID number and a
secret password.  Perhaps you could have it be one, but not both.  It seems
to me that parts of our society are trying have it be a password and parts
a public ID number.  (Perhaps the same parts?)  Doing both just won't work.

(Using SS as a password is subject to all the stealing and replay attacks
that make passwords a really bad idea for secure identification.)


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill Frantz       | Client in California, POP3 | Periwinkle -- Consulting
(408)356-8506     | in Pittsburgh, Packets in  | 16345 Englewood Ave.
[email protected] | Pakistan. - me             | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA